Recently, large-capacity magnetoresistive random access memories (MRAM) using a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element have been gaining attention and raising expectations. The MTJ element comprises the following two magnetic layers sandwiching a tunnel barrier layer: a magnetization fixed layer (reference layer) having a fixed direction of magnetization and a magnetization free layer (storage layer) having an easily reversible direction of magnetization. Further, there is a case where the MTJ element further comprises a shift-adjustment layer to suppress the influence of a stray magnetic field from the reference layer.
When the MTJ element is miniaturized, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the shift-adjustment layer. However, if the MTJ element comprises a thick shift-adjustment layer, processing of the MTJ element, such as ion beam etching (IRE), is difficult.